The man in the jacket took his eyes off Tonino and looked at Daniel. He took a couple of steps forwards. “Is this true?” he asked.
“No, sir, it isn’t true.” Daniel said. “I bought and paid for the horse, sir, fair and square. These men are my witnesses.” He pointed to the men behind Tonino.
The man in the jacket turned to the two men. “Is this true?” he asked.
“She was sick,” Tonino snarled without lowering his rifle, “and he bought her at the same price the abattoir would have paid. But he knew how to cure her and didn’t say anything. Then he sneaked over to the German’s place and had her mounted by the German’s stallion and she had a colt. He tricked all of us.”
“Sir,” Daniel said, “I suspected the mare could be cured, but I wasn’t sure. If she hadn’t recovered, I would have sold her to the abattoir myself. It was the only way I could buy a horse, sir. Luckily she did recover, but I bought her and paid for her.”
The man in the jacket turned to Tonino’s two companions. “Is this true?” he asked.
One of the two looked at him as timidly as a little boy. “He never said she could be cured,” he said.
The man in the jacket seemed to be getting annoyed. He turned to Daniel again and was silent for a few seconds, as if weighing up what to do.
“As far as the German’s stallion is concerned, sir, it’s true I went over there at night and had the mare mounted. But as soon as possible I would have found a way to repay the German. You can ask anyone, sir, I’m an honest person.”
The man looked at the bandaged boy and Tonino and their rifles. There was something in all this that still escaped him. “Well, then?” he asked, as if addressing all of them. “What’s the problem?”
Daniel looked him in the eyes for a couple of seconds. “The problem, sir, is that I’ve paid with half my face and the mare.”
“The mare?”
“Yes, sir. She died with her throat cut in old Pancia’s stable. I’m an honest person, sir, but I won’t work my arse off for nothing.”
The white haired man looked at him gravely. “What about your face?”
“Ask him,” Daniel said, indicating Tonino with his chin.
The man turned to Tonino. “Well?” he said.
“He tricked us,” Tonino said curtly.
The man looked Daniel in the eyes again for a few seconds, and for a moment it seemed to him that there was something romantic in the boy’s tired look, the closed eye, the bandage and the rifle resting on the horse’s neck.
“Tonino,” the man said. “Go and get our brood mare and bring her here.”
Tonino turned to the man and looked at him in astonishment.
“Move,” the man said.
Tonino looked at the man for another couple of seconds, then shook his head, spat on the ground, and walked round to the other side of the house.
A few minutes later, he came back leading a big grey horse at the end of a rope.
“Give her to him,” the man said, when Tonino had come closer.
Tonino stopped dead, as if to say something.
“Give her to him,” the man said.
Tonino walked right up to Daniel and held out the rope without even looking at him.
“She’s a good brood mare,” the man said. “I’m going to have a word with the German. He’ll let you have the mare mounted as often as you like, you’ll see.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The man nodded gravely, then looked at Tonino again. “Give me the rifle,” he said.
Tonino took three steps forwards and held out the rifle to the man.
“Now, Tonino, you have fifteen minutes to pack your things and get out.”
Tonino looked at the man in amazement. “But, sir—”
“Don’t fucking ‘sir’ me. I paid you to look after my horses. You sold a good mare at a price you’d have got from an abattoir without knowing she could be cured. And you just lost me a good brood mare to settle your debt. Not to mention what you did to this boy and his horse. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes. If I see you here or anywhere in the vicinity I swear I’ll shoot you in the legs.”
Daniel decided he had no great desire to stick around and see what was going to happen, it wasn’t his business, so he said goodbye, turned the horses and set off the way he had come.
“Goodbye,” the man said gravely, without taking his eyes off Tonino.
BY THE TIME Natan returned to the area, the purple marks on Daniel’s face had faded, leaving only a few faint blue and yellow patches. His eye, fortunately, had opened and didn’t cause him any trouble, and he only kept the bandage on his face to cover the nasty-looking stitches. The doctor had told him they could come out, too, in a few days.
It was late afternoon and Daniel was giving his bay a last brush-down.
Natan approached, tied his chestnut to the enclosure and started undoing the saddle. “Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” he heard Daniel say, then saw his bandaged, disfigured face emerge from behind the horse.
Natan felt as if a hand was squeezing his stomach. “What the fuck happened?”
Daniel glanced at him and continued brushing his bay. “Nothing, Natan, don’t worry.”
“Tell me.”
“It was nothing. Forget it.”
Natan felt a tingling sensation starting in his stomach and moving out along his arms. “Tell me what happened.”
“Forget it, Natan, it’s not your business.”
Natan thought about it for a few seconds, then spat on the ground. “Shit,” he said. Then he went and sat down on the fence and started rolling a cigarette. “Does it hurt?” he asked after a while.
Daniel smiled for a moment. “Not any more,” he said.
“Can I see?”
Daniel stopped brushing the horse down and walked to the fence, calmly taking the bandage from his face as he did so, then stopped in front of Natan with his head slightly tilted to one side and his eye closed.
“Shit,” Natan said.
There was a reddish line all the way down his face, surrounded by little pieces of black thread.
“Can I?” Natan said, raising his hand.
Daniel nodded without a word. Gently, Natan touched the wound with one finger. It was like being a giant and moving your finger over a dirt road.
The wound seemed to have a voice, and a story to tell.
“Shit,” Natan said, taking his finger away and standing there for another few seconds admiring the wound.
“Nice, isn’t it?” Daniel said.
Natan nodded without a word.
The following day Daniel got up at dawn as usual and went to work at old Pancia’s. Around mid-morning, Natan rode up on his chestnut. Daniel was taking the horses out to clean the stable.
“Hey,” Natan said.
“Hey,” Daniel replied.
“I’m going on a little trip.”
Daniel stopped and gave him a puzzled look. He had never come to say goodbye before.
“Oh,” Daniel said, looking his brother in the eyes. “All right.”
“Who’s she?” Natan asked, indicating the new grey mare with his chin.
Daniel turned to the mare. “They gave her to me to replace First Deal.”
“What happened to First Deal?”
“First Deal died.”
“Oh,” Natan said. “And what’s this one called?”
“This one’s called Substitute,” Daniel said, giving the mare’s neck a couple of slaps.
Natan gave a half-laugh. “OK,” he said. “I’m off.”
Daniel nodded. “See you soon.”
Natan nodded, too. “Yes, see you soon,” he said, then after a couple of seconds turned his chestnut and slowly rode away.
Daniel watched him until he vanished from sight at the end of the road. He had the feeling the trip would be longer than usual this time.